Nehemiah 5:1-13 NLT
Exodus 22:25
Deuteronomy 23:19-20
Leviticus 25:35-40 NLT
“7 Men and The Secret Of Their Greatness” by Eric Metaxas
“We live in a culture where strength is feared and where there is a sense that – to protect the weak – strength itself must be weakened. When this happens, the heroic and true nature of strength is much forgotten. It leads to a world of men who aren’t really men. Instead, they are just two kinds of boys; boasting, loud-mouthed bullies or soft, emasculated pseudo-men.
Women feel that they must be ‘empowered’ and must never rely on men for strength. It’s a lot like a socialistic idea, where ‘power’ and ‘strength’ are redistributed – taken away from men and given to women, to even things out. Of course, it doesn’t work that way. Everyone loses.
We say that the selfless acts of those men in the movie theater – and the selfless acts of most people everywhere – are courageous. Strength in the service of other is courageous. But did you know that the word COURAGE comes from the Latin COR, which means ‘HEART’? So to have courage simply means to have ‘HEART’. Of course the Bible often exhorts people ‘to take heart’ or to ‘be of good courage’. The meaning is effectively the same. So to have HEART MEANS TO HAVE COURAGE. This is God’s idea of strength, to have a heart like a lion.
…So what is HEART? It’s courage, but courage to do what? The courage to do the right thing when all else tells you not to do it. The courage to rise above your surroundings and circumstances. The courage to be God’s idea of a real man and to give of yourself for others when it costs you to do so and when everything tells you to look out for yourself first.”
C.S. Lewis’ Essay titled: Men Without Chests?
“And all the time — such is the tragic-comedy of our situation — we continue to clamor for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more ‘drive’, or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or ‘creativity’. In a sort of ghastly simplicity, we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”
Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York chastised one of his colleagues for mentioning God and the Bible during the House debate over the Equality Act saying:
“God’s will is of no concern this Congress.”
Rep. Greg Stuebe, R-Fla., said in his remarks on the House floor that the Equality Act is in opposition to Scripture.
“The gender confusion that exists in our culture today is a clear rejection of God’s good design. Whenever a nation’s laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against Him and will inevitably bear the consequences.” Stuebe said: “And I think we are seeing the consequences of rejecting God in our country today. And this bill speaks directly against what is laid out in Scripture.”